Free Republic

Republicans control the US Senate and the White House and could nominate and confirm a justice by election day on November 3rd. Already tonight Minority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer announced that the vacancy “should not be filled until we have a new president.” And already Senator Lisa Murkowski announced she would not vote for a SCOTUS nominee until after Election Day.

U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- On 29 July, 2020, Daniel Schilling went to clear trail about a mile from his cabin in Alaska. His dog returned home without him. His wife was very concerned. Searchers found his body, killed by a bear, where he was working. An empty can of bear spray, with the safety off, which had been discharged at the site, was also found. From adfg.alaska.gov: August 6, 2020 (Anchorage) – Employees of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) responded to the location of a fatal bear attack that occurred Wednesday, July 29, near the community of Hope, to...

After two and a half years of review, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Final Environmental Impact Statement was published in July. It determined that the Pebble Mine project can successfully meet strict federal regulatory and environmental standards and that the mining project would have no discernable impact on returning salmon and no affect on commercial fisheries in Bristol Bay. The mine is not at the headwaters of Bristol Bay — as is often wrongly portrayed in photographs. It's 230 miles away by river, or 100 miles by air, from Bristol Bay, and only touches three very small tributaries at...

The key races include two Anchorage Republicans who are caucusing with the mostly Democratic majority, instead of the all-Republican minority. They are Rep. Chuck Kopp — challenged by retired petroleum engineer Tom McKay — and Rep. Jennifer Johnston, challenged by retired oil industry worker James Kaufman. Another key House race involves another Anchorage Republican who doesn’t caucus with the minority: Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, who’s facing military contractor David Nelson. LeDoux is also preparing for a trial on felony charges related to alleged misconduct in previous elections. LeDoux’s next court hearing is Thursday

Black, Latino and American Indian and Alaskan Native people were disproportionately hospitalized for Covid-19, according to a new analysis of 12 states' populations published Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. ... In a nearly two-month period from late April to late June, there were 48,788 cumulative Covid-19 hospitalizations in the states that reported race and hospitalization data -- Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Virginia and Washington. "The share of the hospitalizations of White patients was substantially smaller vs. their share of the population in all 12 states," the authors found. The authors...

Decision opens part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling for the first time WASHINGTON—The Trump administration approved an oil leasing program for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Monday, opening up the pristine 19-million-acre wilderness to drilling for the first time and making it difficult to unwind the decision should Democrats recapture the White House in November. Approving the program clears the way to auction oil leases “right around the end of the year,” Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said in an interview. The decision caps more than 30 years of efforts by oil companies and Alaskan leaders to...

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s recent health problems have revealed a rift among Senate Republicans over what to do if a Supreme Court seat becomes vacant before the end of President Trump’s first term. While Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) has indicated his intent to fill any Supreme Court vacancies in 2020, other Republicans are more hesitant. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska), expressed concern that confirming a Trump nominee before the end of the president’s term would create a “double standard” after Republicans in 2016 declined to appoint then-President Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland to fill the seat vacated by...

After nearly 100 years, Eskimo Pie ice cream will get a new name. "We are committed to being a part of the solution on racial equality, and recognize the term is derogatory," Elizabell Marquez, head of marketing for parent company Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, told CNN in a statement. The chocolate-covered vanilla ice cream bar joins brands such as Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben's in overhauling long-used names and marketing strategies considered racially offensive... The name "Eskimo" is commonly used in Alaska to refer to Inuit and Yupik people, according to the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of...

A state lawmaker in Alaska and six others were killed on Friday morning after two planes collided mid-air in the city of Soldotna. State Rep. Gary Knopp (R), 67, was the sole occupant of a Piper PA-12 when it collided with a single-engine de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver around 8:30 a.m. local time near the Soldotna Airport, The Anchorage Daily News reported. Six people were confirmed dead at the scene except for one person who succumbed to injuries while being transported to a hospital, according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety. The other plane is designed with pontoons to make...

The Lincoln Project, a GOP anti-Trump group, on Wednesday launched a $4 million ad buy targeting Senate contests in Maine, Alaska and Montana. The buy, which was first reported by Axios, will air for seven to 10 days in key markets in the three states. The ads in Alaska and Maine express support for challengers to Republican incumbent Sens. Steve Daines (Mont.) and Dan Sullivan (Alaska). The spots are dubbed "Real" in Alaska and "Strong" in Montana. The group endorsed Democrat Al Gross in its ad in Alaska ahead of the state's Democratic and independent primary on Aug. 18. Meanwhile,...

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released its final environmental impact statement on Friday which found gold and copper mining in Alaska “would not be expected to have a measurable effect on fish numbers.” That clears the final hurdle for the Corps to issue a permit this year to Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., the Canadian company that has proposed the mining operation in the state. Environmentalists oppose the project and the Obama administration did what it could to keep the Alaskan wilderness off limits to energy production. “In a scientific review conducted under the Obama administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection...

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit about 75 miles south of Chignik in Alaska. Officials have now issued a tsunami warning for South Alaska and the Alaska Peninsula, from Kennedy Entrance to Unimak Pass The US Tsunami Warning System said tsunami activity was predicted to hit within the next hour at points along the Alaskan coast. It said Sand Point could be hit at 11.15pm local time (8.15am BST), Kodiak at 12.05am (9.05am BST) and Cold Bay at 12.15am (9.15am BST).

The guard shot the customer as he was walking away.. A California security guard was charged with murder Wednesday after prosecutors say he shot a 50-year-old man at a supermarket because he was not wearing a mask. The incident occurred at the Gardena market in South California on Sunday, when the customer, Jerry Lewis, reportedly entered the store without a mask and got into an argument with the guard, Umeir Hawkins. ... Hawkins and his wife Sabrina Carter were each charged with one count of possession of a handgun by a felon, stemming from a prior conviction in 2013 for...

Former Vice President Joe Biden released a set of policy recommendations on Wednesday that included a proposal to close the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and gas exploration and development. ANWR was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. But local biologists joked that Congress had confused ANWR with another large bloc of federal land in northern Alaska, the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), because ANWR had more oil and NPR-A had more wildlife.

A government meeting in Alaska opened with a prayer to Satan after a Satanic Temple member won the right to deliver the invocation, prompting about a dozen officials and attendees to walk out. The invocation was the first given by the Satanic Temple since the Kenai Peninsula Borough — 75 miles south of Anchorage — changed a policy in November after the Alaska Superior Court said that policy violated the state’s constitution’s establishment clause. The new policy allows for anyone in the borough to offer an invocation, no matter their religion. In her invocation, Iris Fontana, who is a member...

he senators skipping out include Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Mitt Romney of Utah, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. The lawmakers gave varying reasons for why they won't be at President Donald Trump's renominating convention. Some of those senators are not among Trump's favorites.

The recession is hitting state and city budgets hard in the new fiscal year that starts on July 1. They are responding by firing workers, reducing services, and even increasing taxes. Massive federal aid is the only real solution. The new fiscal year for 46 states and many cities begins on Wednesday. And a flood of red ink caused by the deep pandemic recession is forcing them to fire workers, reduce spending and services, and even raise taxes (one of the worst things you can do in a recession). Without Congress providing up to $1 trillion in federal aid, non-federal...

JUNEAU, Alaska - Petitioners have called for the removal of a statue in Alaska of the U.S. cabinet secretary who arranged the purchase of the state’s land from Russia. The Juneau Empire reports Jennifer LaRoe launched the Change.org petition to remove the William H. Seward statue that drew signatures from 1,300 people. The $250,000 statue unveiled in 2017 shows Seward holding the 1867 Treaty of Cession authorizing the Alaska Territory sale to the U.S. from the Russian Empire. LaRoe acknowledged Seward's role as an abolitionist in President Abraham Lincoln’s administration but says the statue is a symbol of white, patriarchal...

U.S. fighter jets intercepted eight Russian warplanes near Alaska in two separate incidents, according to military officials on Wednesday.“NORAD F-22 Raptors, supported by KC-135 Stratotankers and an E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System, successfully completed two intercepts of Russian bomber aircraft formations entering the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone last night,” the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) wrote on Wednesday morning. NORAD F-22 Raptors, supported by KC-135 Stratotankers and an E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System, successfully completed two intercepts of Russian bomber aircraft formations entering the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone last night. pic.twitter.com/9iSZK0Vu2F— North American Aerospace Defense...

Top Senate Republicans are urging President Trump to back off a threat to campaign against Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) if she runs for reelection in 2022. Trump tweeted late last week that he would be campaigning in Alaska in 2022 against Murkowski and would back anyone with a "pulse" after she told reporters that she was "struggling" with whether she could support him in 2020. But top Senate Republicans indicated on Monday that they don't support efforts to unseat Murkowski, who is one of the Senate GOP caucus's most moderate members. "I'd leave Lisa alone. She's a member of our...